It is an object of the present invention to provide a rotatable sausage forming sleeve member, which is to be arranged at the inlet end of a sausage producing machine, and capable of assuring a continuous sliding and rotation of the tubular film, already filled with the meat mass, without tearing the tubular film, in order to attain a correct and continuous formation of a string of sausages.
The rotatable sleeve member of the present invention includes a plurality of short longitudinal grooves formed only at the convergent inlet end on the inside surface of the sleeve. This structure enables attaining a meshing effect between the tubular casing and the inlet end of the sleeve to cause the casing to rotate altogether with the sleeve member and at the same angular speed thereof. In order to avoid wedging and tearing, of the tubular film, the length of such meshing is short and additional means are provided to reduce the frictional engagement between the remaining portions of the sleeve member up to its outlet and said tubular casing.